Your Year-Old Smartphone Isn't Good Enough and Other Messages that Make You Feel Like a Luddite

Okay, so this article isn’t actually about smartphones; it is about messages that may unnecessarily make you, as a fundraising professional, feel like a Luddite because you aren’t already doing the latest “cool” thing.

Have you heard (or maybe thought) some of these after reading a technology article?

We need to only use software from the biggest vendor in our sector. Smaller vendors will just be bought or disappear. (And unless we use the biggest vendor, nobody will be able to help us!)
Data silos are terrible, the downfall of humanity! We have to have one backend database for our whole organization.
We need to be doing multi-channel marketing! That means we have to be on Twitter, Facebook, and every other social media site out there.

It’s not that there isn’t truth in most of these over-hyped topics; it’s that implementations are rarely the “all or nothing” situations they are portrayed to be in articles promoting this technology or that approach (and this is coming from a technology vendor who would gladly help you spend oodles of consulting money building a mammoth system to do everything). But sometimes hype and rumor are just that - hype and rumor.

As a development professional, you may feel like you are not in a position to politely decline, or defer to the future, using the latest “cool tool” because you don’t understand the technology or you feel you must champion new technology. However, consider the following:

There are many vendors with thousands of customers that have been around for more than 20 years. Small-ish vendors may be more willing to spend extra time with you for support, consulting, serving as a sounding board, etc.
An implementation or addition of a product or service may not be a time-saver. Some of these systems require more IT time in general, because they aren’t designed to support day-to-day administration by an “end user.” This may mean you spend more time waiting for certain processes to be completed, as your IT staff is already very busy.
Data silos, when implemented in the extreme, can be a real barrier to effective communication. However, having one very large system can lead to unexpected, wide-reaching downtime, difficult and time-consuming upgrades, and potential security issues. Silos aren’t inherently bad. Unintentional ones are. Share your data wisely!
"Multi-channel” doesn’t mean every possible channel. It means using 2 or more channels-that you have the time to nurture-to communicate your message and to cross-reference your other channels. If you can’t do both of these things, reconsider whether to add an additional channel. Channels are only useful when implemented as part of an entire communication strategy.
How do your constituents see you?

The more channels you use to communicate, the more impression management you need to do. If the organization isn’t prepared to monitor this, it may not be the right time to expand your channels.
If your constituents perceive a security issue with their data, this may be an issue. The opposing side of this is one of allowing constituents access to their own information. These two sides of the issue must be carefully considered and the risks and benefits managed.
How much are you spending to manage certain resources? IT expenditures that help your organization better meet its mission and support its constituents and employees are nothing to hide, but ensure your expenditures are ones you would feel comfortable discussing with a new prospect interested in supporting your mission.

Evaluate every situation before jumping in! Careful consideration of alternatives, rejection of an implementation, or the proposal of a “less cool” option, doesn’t make you a Luddite; it displays your ability to consider multiple facets of issues that involve people, your organization, and technology. Promoting responsible, obtainable, maintainable technical advances is the antithesis of Luddism.